Wednesday Practice Insider: Swinney adds corner to injury list, talks depth

Lukus missed Saturday's game at Miami.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed Oct 25 19:48:13 GMT-04:00 2023

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney met with the media following Wednesday’s practice and covered several topics, from injuries to the depth chart to this weekend’s game against North Carolina State.

The Tigers are a 10-point favorite heading into Raleigh and a 2 p.m. kickoff against the Wolfpack (on the CW Network).

Some highlights from the media session:

*Swinney said defensive end Justin Mascoll (Swinney declined to define the injury) is still day-to-day but getting better. He said he hopes Mascoll can play.

*With safety RJ Mickens out after having surgery on his appendix, Swinney said freshman Khalil Barnes is the natural choice to take that spot. Sherrod Covil and Kylon Griffin can also add depth.

“Well, I mean, Barnes has obviously played a ton this year, and we feel really good about him,” Swinneys aid. “He's gained a bunch of experience. He's played well for us. We got Barnes, we got Kylon, and we got Covil. We're fortunate that we've got some depth at that position that we feel good about.”

*Cornerback Jeadyn Lukus didn’t play against Miami, and Swinney said Lukus is out with an injury but declined to go into detail.

*He was asked how defensive end Cade Denhoff held up Saturday after Mascoll left with the injury.

“He did fine. He's a guy that's still growing into more minutes, if you will, but knows what to do,” Swinney said. “He's got some length. He's very conscientious. He's a tough kid. He's a redshirt sophomore and certainly got some room for improvement, but we trust him.”

*On defensive end Zaire Patterson still not earning playing time.

“Yeah, he's got to earn it. He's got to earn it. Everybody wants to play when the season rolls around, but you got to earn it,” Swinney said. “He's a good kid, but he just hadn't taken the next step for us yet to where he's been able to beat those other guys out.”

*He was asked why right guard Mitchell Mayes played more snaps than freshman Harris Sewell against Miami (52 for Mayes, 17 for Sewell).

“Just a guy that's played a lot of ball for us. I mean, he's been here for four years,” Swinney said. “He's started several games for us and has played well but has not played as well the last couple of games. Then Harris went in and he had a couple of mistakes. We just went with the veteran guy there down the stretch in a tight ball game. Really, neither one of them really played very well. So that's definitely a spot we have to get back on track at that position for sure.”

*On if Adam Randall deserved more snaps Saturday night.

“He probably could get a few more, but we didn't have the ball in the second half, but about five minutes,” Swinney said. "I think if we have the ball for more than a minute, 20 seconds in the fourth quarter and five and a half, six minutes in the whole second half, he probably would have had some snaps. But that definitely limited everybody there.”